Abstract
The Right and Labor in America, edited by Nelson Lichtenstein and Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, is a timely contribution for those seeking an historical context for the recent state-level attacks on organized labor. The collected essays for this volume do much to explain the evolution of the American Right’s construction of organized labor in the United States. They substantiate the historical roots of modern conservatism and help demonstrate the relationships between corporate ideology, the restructuring of party politics, the role of think tanks, and the efforts to frame organized labor as a corrupt oppressor of workers, both organized and unorganized.
The editors divide the book into four parts. Part one, “The Conservative Search for Social Harmony,” includes an essay on the early-twentieth-century evolution of tariff policy and the rise of free trade ideology by Andrew Wender Cohen. Christopher Nehls provides an analysis of the American Legion’s strike-breaking efforts and rejection of labor’s use of class as an organizing principle. Chris Nyland and Kyle Bruce delineate Elton Mayo’s successful brand of modern human relations and his efforts to legitimize a managerial-centered world view of work in America.
The next two parts of the book consider race, region, and the appropriation of the language of civil rights by American conservatives. Tami Friedman demonstrates how capital flight to the South after World War II created the conditions for the rise of a new ethos among corporate leaders. This ethos vilified organized labor and sought to undermine labor standards in both the North and the South. Michael Pierce covers the transformation of Arkansas from a labor-friendly state to one identified with racial segregation and anti-labor politics during the 1950s. Pierce contributes to our understanding of how Sam Walton and Don Tyson used racial divisions and anti-labor rhetoric to grow their businesses and increase their political influence.
Elizabeth Tandy Shermer explores the rise of anti-union conservatism through the lens of Right-to-Work campaigns in the Sunbelt during the 1940s and 1950s, illuminating the link between anti-unionism and the economic development of the southwest. Essays by Reuel Schiller, Sophia Lee, and Alexander Gourse contribute to our understanding of the racial dimensions of Right-to-Work political campaigns, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s use of the rhetoric of the civil rights movement, and how, at times, administrative law judges undermined labor law and increased tension between workers in the settlement of discrimination lawsuits.
The final section, “The Spector of Union Power and Corruption,” explores the creation of a national legal and political discourse centered on the corrupt leadership and illegitimate power of both private and public trade unions. David Witner explores the links between labor beat reporters, public racketeering investigations, and legislators during the 1950s and 1960s. Joseph McCartin and Jean-Christian Vinel examine conservative libertarian Sylvester Petro’s contributions to the common frame that defines union security as coercive and undemocratic as well as the notion that public-sector unions undermine government sovereignty. Nelson Lichtenstein offers an analysis of John Tate’s role in helping Wal-Mart to create its successful union avoidance program during the 1970s and its widespread adoption by other service-sector firms thereafter. Lastly, business leaders’ efforts to undermine labor reform during the Dunlop Commission and in recent efforts to pass the Employee Free Choice Act are examined in essays by John Logan and Susan Orr, respectively.
In all, the essays contained in this book will be a welcome contribution to all who seek to understand the anti-union politics of the last few years. Hopefully, the book will provoke many useful discussions. The somewhat obscure history of the American Right may make this book a challenging read for some. It is best suited for upper division labor studies classes. Fortunately, the authors’ efforts have helped to bring key aspects of the American Right’s history to light and make them accessible to a much broader audience.